Donald Trump's team to raise millions for Jan 20 events

Trump has set USD 1 million donation limits for corporations and no limits for individual donors

Updated: Friday, November 25, 2016, 8:48 [IST]

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Palm Beach (US), Nov 24: The scramble to shape his administration underway, President-elect Donald Trump's team has simultaneously begun turning its attention to raising tens of millions of dollars for festivities related to his Washington inauguration.

Trump, who vowed during the campaign to "drain the swamp" of special interests corrupting Washington, has set USD 1 million donation limits for corporations and no limits for individual donors, according to an official on the Presidential Inaugural Committee with direct knowledge of tentative fundraising plans.

At the same time, Trump's inaugural committee will not accept money from registered lobbyists, in line with his ban on hiring lobbyists for his nascent administration.

Barack Obama set stricter limits on donations for his first inauguration, in 2009, holding individual donors to USD 50,000 each and taking no money from corporations or labor unions, as well as none from lobbyists and some other groups.

Plenty of corporate executives, though, gave individually and often at the maximum amount. And he opened the spigots for his 2013 inauguration, setting no limits on corporate or individual donations.

The new details, confirmed today on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to disclose private deliberations, came as Trump gathered with family at his Palm Beach estate on Thanksgiving.

It was a working holiday of sorts for Trump, who suggested on Twitter that he was engaged in trying to prevent an Indiana air conditioning company from moving jobs to Mexico. "I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier AC Company to stay in the US," Trump tweeted.

I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!

"MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!" The company, which has announced plans to move 1,400 jobs to Mexico from Indiana in the coming years, confirmed today it "has had discussions with the incoming administration," but said there was "nothing to announce at this time."

On the eve of the national holiday, the president-elect offered a prayer for unity after "a long and bruising" campaign season. "Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight," Trump said in a video message on social media.

He added, "It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve."

Unity has emerged as a common theme during Trump's limited public appearances in the days since his stunning general election victory, which followed a campaign season in which he rained extraordinary personal attacks on his opponents in both parties, the media and his many Republican critics.